By By Kerry Whipple Bean – publisher
No official proposal has been made and no formal vote has been taken, but Mayor Ted Jennings said Tuesday that he believes the city council is leaning against any sale of Dogwood Hills Golf Course.
Brewton City Board of Education members have said they hope to buy the property to use part of it for a new middle school, with plans to reconfigure the rest of the course and rent it back to the city.
But Jennings emphasized that because no vote has been taken, he could not speak for every council member.
School Superintendent Lynn Smith said the board will continue to pursue the idea. The school board has asked Jerry Pate, a Pensacola golfer and golf course designer, to look at the course and determine whether it can be redesigned.
Smith said he knew that council members were not leaning toward selling the property.
The school board has been planning for more than two years to build a new middle school, and school board members had proposed using a portion of the Dogwood Hills property for the project.
That proposal has drawn opposition from golfers, Dogwood Hills supporters and some residents.
The school board had said the pool and playground at Dogwood Hills could remain open, and the nine-hole golf course reconfigured using about 26 acres of currently unused land behind the property. While the land has not fully been surveyed, golf course supporters have said that property is mainly wetlands.
Dogwood Hills Men's Association President Lee Bain said Tuesday he supports the council's opposition to the sale of the golf course.